Sen. Mikulski On 'Cut, Cap' Bill : 'What A Sham What A Scam'

(CNSNews.com) – Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) called the House Republicans’ "Cut, Cap and Balance" legislation "stupid," a "scam" and "cruel," alleging that it "could very well kill the future" of America.

"What a sham. What a scam. I’d be tempted to just blow it off if it were not so cruel, stupid and dangerous. It’s cruel because it invents new rules of how we’re going to calculate social security, what we’re going to do to Medicare," she told reporters, alongside Senators Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) at the Capitol on Wednesday.

"It’s stupid because it doesn’t solve our problems and it’s dangerous because it could bring our economy down. It does ‘Cut, Cap and Kill’ Medicare but it could very well kill the future of our country. What are the plain facts? It cuts spending to 1965 levels – that was 46 years ago – 46 years ago when making $8,000 a year was considered a fantastic salary. Would you want to go back and make $8,000 a year? I don’t think so."

Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.)

The "Cut, Cap, and Balance Act of 2011" would prevent the House or Senate from considering any "bill, joint resolution, amendment, or conference report that would cause the most recently reported current GDP outlay limits set forth in section 319 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 to be exceeded."

The outlay limits, according to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) are as follows: 21.7 percent for fiscal year 2013; 20.8 percent for fiscal year 2014; 20.2 percent for fiscal year 2015; 20.1 percent for fiscal year 2016; 19.9 percent for fiscal year 2017; 19.7 percent for fiscal year 2018; 19.9 percent for fiscal year 2019; 19.9 percent for fiscal year 2020; and 19.9 percent for fiscal year 2021.

The bill would also allow a vote on a constitutional amendment requiring Congress to pass a balanced budget each fiscal year, meaning the amount of funds Congress appropriates would have to match the amount of revenue the government collects.